Technological advances in recording digital video, recording media, and electronics have led to video cameras of smaller size and weight. These smaller “hand-held” video cameras are replacing “shoulder mounted” video cameras of nearly 6 times the volume and weight. A typical “handheld” video camera is designed to operate with one hand, thus freeing the operator from a bulky load on his shoulder.
However, the power requirements of these handheld video cameras have not been reduced in similar proportions to their reduction in size and weight. Indeed, today's video cameras commonly require 50% of the power that earlier cameras 600% larger would consume. The batteries generally provided with these cameras are physically small, limited in their ability to power the cameras for extended periods of time and are generally considered unreliable for long service life or professional use. Many of these batteries were designed for the intermittent duty of a consumer camera and are included with professional video cameras primarily to reduce the overall manufactured cost.
The batteries included with known handheld video cameras often define a footprint (length and width) for their mounting means that is itself small in area, and therefore only allows for extending the battery outwardly from the camera body, resulting in an awkward and mostly unusable dimension. Also, the footprint does not allow for the increase in the size of the cells used in the battery. Therefore, improving the performance or quality of the battery is virtually impossible.
The reduction in size and weight of known handheld video cameras also creates a problem in the physics behind the ability of a pan and tilt head to properly control the movement of the camera. As the camera mass is lessened, the ability of the head to dampen unwanted movements made by the operator is also lessened. Moreover, the lightweight of smaller video cameras actually requires at least as heavy a tripod base in order to provide a stable shooting platform.
Thus, the reduction in size and weight of handheld cameras has caused a problem for both the power source and the stabilizing devices typically used, especially by professionals, to operate the camera to generate quality video productions. Ironically, both designers of stabilizing devices and designers of power sources have been forced to add at least as much weight to the operating system—camera, battery, head and tripod—as the camera manufacturer eliminated in reducing the size and overall weight of video camera devices in the first place.
Numerous stabilizing devices have been developed for these handheld video cameras. These devices typically add to the operators weight burden both in camera operation and in the weight of gear necessary to carry to a location. These devices are often awkward and mitigate the size and weight benefits, and operating convenience, that small cameras were intended to offer.
Still further, the reduction in the size of the camera body has left little room to add or attach accessory devices. Virtually every square inch of the outer surfaces of the video camera are dedicated to some functional aspect—lens, input, output connectors, viewfinders, LCD monitors, handle and media compartments.
Classically, there is one notable exception to the use of a video camera body surface for functional operations. The base, or bottom, planar surface, of known video cameras are left relatively flat and absent of any function other than to provide a mounting surface for a pan and lilt head, tripod or the like.
Conversely, in still image cameras it has been known to locate a battery accessory beneath the base of the still camera, however the use of the bottom surface of video cameras has, to date, been stringently avoided both by video camera and accessory designers in order to not interfere with the mounting of the video camera to a support device, such as a tripod. That is, the still photography field is substantially different from the motion or video camera field in that still photography is traditionally effected by hand-held means, without the need for tripods or the like. While still photography cameras are themselves oftentimes provided with a threaded bore for optional mounting upon a tripod or the like, the adaptation of a base-mounted battery for still photography cameras gained limited appeal because their hand-held use so rarely entails the need for a tripod that the threaded bore typically went unutilized in any event.
In stark contrast, video cameras are typically heavier then still photography cameras, are more susceptible to the detrimental effects of image shake and are typically utilized to record during movement, such as during sporting events, television news programming or in the professional photography arena. For these reasons, video cameras typically employ tripods, or the like, over a significant portion of their working life, therefore designers and manufactures have never imported the teachings of the still photography art in this regard.
With the forgoing problems and concerns in mind, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a battery assembly with increased functionality that increases the total power available to an electronic consumer, while also boosting operability and improving the ergonomics of the electrical consumer. In particular, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a power supply for video cameras that utilizes the bottom, planar surface of the video camera, without impeding the functionality of the bottom, planar surface.